Monday, December 12, 2011

According to the latest in the NHK News, the worker was cleaning out the side drains at the district assembly hall in the morning. (For my report from the press conference yesterday, see my post here.)

I just hate to think how radioactive the sludge was. There is no indication that the government (this project was government-planned and funded and directed) had measured the density of the soil or sludge that it was requesting the workers to remove.

The decontamination technology for that kind of operation in Japan is hand, shovel, trowel, and sandbag.

Beyond criminal, and all the spokesman said in the yesterday's press conference was "We don't know the details, but the death is definitely not caused by the radiation, and it has nothing to do with the decontamination work".

Just to remind you that their definition of a death by the radiation for this government and TEPCO is an acute radiation poisoning which knocks out a person in an instant of the exposure to the radiation source.

Furthermore, when he said the death had nothing to do with the decon work, he had to clarify upon being further questioned by a reporter. All he meant was that the worker didn't die while he was doing the decon work.

I watched the press conference yesterday. The unease of the government spokesman was exceptional. At times, he simply couldn't even speak, trying to find appropriate words to say.

A 60-year-old man was found collapsed in a car and confirmed dead. He was doing the decontamination work in Date City in Fukushima Prefecture. The Cabinet Office [which planned the work] says the death "has nothing to do with the decontamination work".

According to the Cabinet Office and the Police, a 60-year-old man was found collapsed in a car in Shimo-Oguni District of Date City in Fukushima Prefecture at around 1PM on December 12. The man worked for a construction company in Miyagi Prefecture. He was taken to a hospital, but was confirmed dead about an hour later. The man participated in the decontamination work assigned by the national government near the district assembly hall in the morning. He scooped the sludge in the side drains, and then he was eating lunch in the company car, it was reported. The Cabinet Office says "The cause of death has nothing to do with the decontamination work", without revealing the details.

6
comments:

Atomfritz
said...

"Just to remind you that their definition of a death by the radiation for this government and TEPCO is an acute radiation poisoning which knocks out a person in an instant of the exposure to the radiation source."

Well, it takes an exposition of way more than 100 Sievert in short time to really incapacitate and kill people in place (-> neutron bomb).

It is almost impossible to instakill people with less.Daghlian (5.1 sievert) survived for 25 days, Slotin (21 sievert) survived nine days.Everybody of the liquidators who collected the nuclear fuel in Chernobyl with bare hands survived at least for a few days.

If you are curious, read the report of an accident where a worker got 45 sievert chest irradiation and 250 sievert hand irratiation.He survived for 66 hours, however the intensive emergency treatment including hand amputation probably was no fun, as the medical report and his facial expression on the photo on pg. 31 indicate.Link: http://www-pub.iaea.org/mtcd/publications/pdf/pub1106_scr.pdf

Another accident report where an irradiation facility worker received 15 sievert and survived 113 days under intensive medical care is also quite interesting, not only because of the many photos.Link: www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1010_web.pdf

Too sad I couldn't find such a report on the Tokaimura criticality accidents' victims.

ian, 10:49 PM was being completely sarcastic. Dr. Yamashita's quote, "radiation doesn't come to those who smile", is a bit of a running joke around here. And with good reason--Yamashita is a useless happy-speak government douche bag.

About my coverage of Japan Earthquake of March 11

I am Japanese, and I not only read Japanese news sources for information on earthquake and the Fukushima Nuke Plant but also watch press conferences via the Internet when I can and summarize my findings, adding my observations.

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